Select/Delete path nodes plugin?

[akovia]

Would it ever be possible to create a plugin to use regular selection or paint tools to select actual path nodes and not just strokes like the delete strokes plugin? 

Just wondered if there is something inherent about gimp that would prevent that type of plugin.

Cheers

[Ofnuts]

Possible(*) but a rare use case IMHO:

- If you want to delete random nodes, you can delete them directly instead of making a tiny selection around them
- if you want to delete a bunch of contiguous nodes, just delete the segments at the ends of the group to isolate it on a stroke, delete the stroke, and then re-connect if necessary.

(*) Although there is no real way to go directly from a selected area to specific nodes it contains. You have to check all the nodes of all the strokes.

[akovia]

Edge Case is apparently my middle name. 

I use gimp paths way more than your average bear. I've tried many times to dual wield gimp and inkscape and always end up frustrated at the minor differences in the way things work so I'm constantly hitting the wrong shortcuts and such. I've done many truly vector projects in inkscape from start to finish, but most of the time it's more a raster based project that needs some vector work. I've learned to work around most of the quirks in gimp paths, but some bugs will just never get fixed. (Like those small tangents) You still can't copy/paste paths successfully between inkscape and gimp without problems which makes working between the two even more difficult.

Quote:- If you want to delete random nodes, you can delete them directly instead of making a tiny selection around them

Of course, but when dealing with big complicated paths this can take forever.

Quote:- if you want to delete a bunch of contiguous nodes, just delete the segments at the ends of the group to isolate it on a stroke, delete the stroke, and then re-connect if necessary.

This is something I didn't consider and is brilliant. I'm glad I took the time to ask. 

Thanks!

Now I'll start holding my breath for path layer groups in the core.

[Ofnuts]

(02-01-2019, 11:22 PM)akovia Wrote:

Quote:- If you want to delete random nodes, you can delete them directly instead of making a tiny selection around them

Of course, but when dealing with big complicated paths this can take forever.

Number of mouses moves is anyway going to be pretty much the same, except that to directly delete you click and to select for deletion you'll have to drag.

[akovia]

So just to revisit this, I've used your suggestions for deleting partial paths and it has worked well for me. What I never followed up on was selecting nodes/anchors.

I very often have need to grab and manipulate a group of nodes at once. Here's a for instance.
   

I want to match the path to the letter, so I would normally shift-click each node that I want to group together. (with a bunch of ctrl+z's along the way if the picking isn't perfectly precise)

If I wanted to delete those anchors it would be trivial to just make a selection around them and use your Delete Anchors script. Couldn't the script be modified to just make the selection instead of following through with the deletion?

Or maybe there is a different way I'm not considering?

[Ofnuts]

I don't quite understand what you want here. What do you mean by "just make the selection instead of following through with the deletion"?

[akovia]

(11-20-2021, 10:51 PM)Ofnuts Wrote: I don't quite understand what you want here. What do you mean by "just make the selection instead of following through with the deletion"?

Probably the wrong wording, but I figured you had to select the anchors you want to delete before actually deleting them in the script. I meant to just return them to the user in the selected state so the group of nodes could all be moved as one.

[Ofnuts]

Unfortunately there is no API to select nodes the way the Path tools does.

[akovia]

That's a shame but I really appreciate you looking it to it!